Thursday, July 28, 2011

Vegan Yorkshire Pudding ... Sort Of

This must be cook-from-different-cultures week. Jewish Matzoh Brie for breakfast, Indian Curry for dinner last night, and now English Yorkshire Pudding tonight. Now, I've never had Yorkshire Pudding, and until I Wikipedia-ed it, so I had no idea what it was. I really thought it'd be like our American pudding — ultra-creamy and sort of gravy-like.

But the magic of the internet revealed something very different, something more like a bread or biscuit. When I first blogged about my new European vegan cookbook, Vegan Rustic Cooking by Diana White, my friend John P asked me to try the Yorkshire Pudding with Vegan Sausage. So I did. But mine didn't come out looking at all like the pictures I saw on the internet:

Mine looks and tastes more like a muffin with little chunks of cooked Gimme Lean sausage. Yummy, but probably not the texture it's supposed to be. But since I didn't know any better, I enjoyed my sausage muffins.

As the book suggests, I served some RoastedBrussels Sprouts and Parsnips on the side:

And I added a serving of sweet potatoes after I snapped the picture because I'm a hungry girl.

Has anyone tried Yorkshire pudding? What are the taste and texture supposed to be like?

16 comments:

Yorkshire pudding is like a hollow wonderful light and fluffy popover. You can make them with just oil I think (and maybe some sort of egg replacer), but yea, they are really light and hollow in the middle so you can pour in gravy ;)

Hello! I grew up in Yorkshire, land of the Yorkshire pudding, where it's been eaten since the 1700's! It's basically an unsweetened pancake batter, very puffy, light and crisp (they say it must be at least 4 inches tall to be a real Yorkshire pudding). The secret is to pour a little oil into your muffin or baking tray & get it really smoking hot before adding the batter, so it puffs up straight away.If you had sausages in it, what you've made is Toad-in-the-Hole!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toad_in_the_holeHere's a good recipe http://www.vegancampaigns.org.uk/resources/recipes/mnsdYorkshirePud.html

i also grew up in yorkshire... well durham, but close enough... still a yorkshire rose. i have had NO LUCK since i went veg making decent YPs... my mam and dad can't live w/out them, so when they visit, i try to make vegan ones, but cant ever do it... i feel like b/c it needs egg and milk, it's hard to sub both... i will try that recipe you suggested littleblack fox... and will report back on success/failure. your toad ina hole looks yum tho :) thanks for the post!

Hi VeggieLow!Thanks for finding that new link (I swear I'm jinxed when it comes to the internet)I've not had the greatest of success with vegan ones either, like you I think that they need egg & milk (though I seem to just about get away with toad-in-the-hole, sausages hide a multitude of sins!). For white fat I use vegetable shortening (trex, flora white etc). I find soya milk too sweet too, but not found an alternative, I just put lots of black pepper in the batter instead!Good luck!

I remember trying Yorkshire Puddings when in England, they always looked so romantic and fascinating in picture books - a HUGE APOLOGY to all those who grew up with them, but I found them very "animal fatty" tasting - like they'd been cooked in hamburger grease? (I wasn't vegan at the time, but WAS vegetarian and the cook assured me they would be a good option - I found out otherwise - blergh) They were crisp on the top but squidgy inside. Not something I'm in a hurry to re-create as a vegan...

I have tried to veganize every Yorkshire pudding recipe I can possibly find on the internet with no success. I seriously think it is impossible. If you are able to master it, please, please tell us all!

Yorkshire pudding is so delicious and comforting. I grew up having it with dinner every Sunday. I havent tried veganizing it yet though. Littleblackfox has the best advice. Putting oil in the muffin tin and letting it heat in the oven is best. You can also use crisco, thats what my grandma uses :)

My name is Bianca ...

About Me

I'm a 9-year vegan, 19-year vegetarian from the Mid-South, not too far from the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. And that means cornbread, butter beans, and collard greens.
These days, I live in Memphis. Check out my cookbook — Cookin' Crunk. It's filled with yummilicious veganized soul food and country classics.